Young Justice Season 3: Hyperdrive
by Young Justice Season 3
Summary: The second episode written by the Young Justice: Season 3 group on tumblr (youngjustice-season3). Updated every other Sunday. (Summary coming eventually)


_**CENTRAL CITY**_  
_**July 8, 16:13 CST**_

It was a quiet late afternoon at the Allen household in Central City. In the house sat a fluffy haired speedster with a phone in between the crook of his head and shoulder as he played with a young boy that was only about a year on the couch. The boy's twin sister was crawling over the speedster teen's legs, going for a teddy bear. Bart laughed as he felt her crawl over his thighs.

"Careful," he called out to her. "No, not you, amigo. Dawn."

"Bart," said Jaime over the phone, "Are you positive Batman said it was perfectly okay for you to touch the babies? One of them is su padre."

"Relax," Bart sighed and he picked up Dawn and her teddy bear and moved her to the couch to sit with Don. "Bats gave me the all clear. I'm severely routed in the dimension because I did so much to stop you and avoid the apocalypse. I am a permanent part of the time stream here. I'm not going anywhere."

"Good to hear, amigo," said Jaime, chuckling. Suddenly he shouted something in Spanish that Bart couldn't understand. Jaime returned to talking to him, "I gotta go. Milagro needs my help with something. Adios!"

"Tell her I said 'Hi'! Adios!" Bart clicked his phone off, before tickling Don and Dawn on their stomachs. The twins giggled.

"Bart! Bring the twins in here! Their dinner's ready!" Iris called from the kitchen. Bart happily scooped up the twins into his arms and carried them to the kitchen where he promptly set them down in their height chairs. His grandfather, Barry, walked into the kitchen and smiled at all of them.

However, his smile didn't last as his phone rang. He didn't say anything when he answered, he just listened and he pursed his lip before rolling his eyes. He sighed and closed the phone, "Suit up, Bart; Batman just called us in."

"Again?" asked Iris as she spoon fed Don his baby food. She raised a slightly annoyed eyebrow at her husband. He sighed and hugged her.

"A Flash's work is never done," he replied. "You ready Bart?" The auburn haired boy had easily suited up in his Kid Flash costume, looking as chipper as ever.

"We'll be back in a flash," both of the speedsters said and without any warning, they were gone. Iris sighed and shook her head as she continued to feed her young son.

* * *

_**STAR CITY**_  
_**July 8, 14:13 PST **_

Roy Harper was a clone. He had long ago accepted this, but it became his mission to find the real Roy Harper and return him to a life he once knew. This didn't go exactly as planned. Since he found Roy, who now called himself Arsenal, they had barely spoken to each other. And it wasn't long before Arsenal went rogue. He now worked alone.

If Roy had one best friend in the world, it was Kaldur. The Atlantean had relayed him some video footage of Arsenal in battle and what his teammates had told of his actions and performances. It was instantaneous that the clone realized that it might not be the healthiest for Arsenal to be alone. Roy decided to relay the kindness that his friends and wife showed to him that helped get Arsenal back. Now he was going to have to do it again.

The last reports on the rogue hero came from Star City- the Arrow stomping grounds. Roy stood on top of a building, thinking about where he would go if he was a runaway super. Police sirens wailed a few streets down. Roy managed a smirk and began to head towards the commotion. Where there was a crime, there was a superhero waiting.

* * *

_**THE WATCHTOWER**_  
_**July 8, 18:20 EDT**_

There were very few moments where Batman looked pleased. This was not one of those moments. Barry and Bart sped up to him. A small robbery had occurred along the way and Bart had gone solo for a minute to handle it, while Barry had waited for him at the zeta tube. With a smile, he told the Dark Knight that Bart was making great progress. Batman did not seem amused.

"This is a matter of emergency," he informed them, turning to the screen. "We believe there is Luthor funded operation in the Metropolis Cadmus building."

"Shouldn't you be calling it Superman and his gang for this then?" asked Bart. Batman gave him a sharp look that silenced the futuristic speedster with a gulp.

"Normally yes, but we were able unearth the name of the project-."

"Meaning this is a trap." Barry raised an eyebrow.

"Most likely," replied Batman in his usual monotone. "But speedsters are unpredictable, good with traps…And then there's the name of the project. It's called Hyperdrive."

"Hyperdrive…that's a speed if I ever heard it," Barry told the caped crusader.

"So…we infiltrate the building, figure out what this…Project Hyperdrive is and get out before we get hurt?" asked Bart. "It sounds simple enough."

"It never is," Batman told the young Kid Flash. Barry nodded in agreement. The blond speedster sighed. There was some kind of catch to all this. There always was, but then again, he was used to it at this point. Bart decided it was best not to run his mouth right now with the experienced superheroes. He understood there was always a catch to everything that was done. Bart was lucky…he was anchored in the era. He couldn't fade away…

* * *

_**STAR CITY**_  
_**July 8, 14:18 PST**_

Roy notched an arrow as he aimed it at a thief below. He was waiting for just the right moment: the last one. He had to see whether or not Arsenal would show up. Perhaps the original had already left Star City. Roy sighed and was ready to let the arrow fly when the first sign of good news that Arsenal was still in Star City.

A blast knocked the low level thief from his feet and into a wall. The police apprehended him quickly after that as Roy slipped his arrow back into his quiver and began heading towards the source of the blast. It seemed that Arsenal was seeing the arrest through to the end as he was still waiting behind a wall as he watch the police shove the criminal into one of the cars. Arsenal smirked and turned around.

Roy jumped down in front of him.

Arsenal raised an eyebrow when he saw him. He crossed his arms, "Get out of my way, Red."

"Easy, I just want to-."

"Bring me back to the Justice League?"

"Talk to you."

"Get lost."

"I will eventually, but we need to talk." Roy crossed his arms and unintentionally mimicked Arsenal's stance. Both were rock solid, and neither were going to move. That much was clear.

"Nothin' to talk about," said Arsenal.

"Except that you're not as okay you want people to think you are." Arsenal rolled his eyes and Roy growled. "Look, if I was the one stuck in a tube for eight years and you were the clone, I know I wouldn't be okay."

"Hard to admit that one?" Arsenal smirked sarcastically. He wanted out. He didn't need help. He was fine on his own. He didn't need anybody. He didn't need help. And he certainly didn't need anybody to help him.

"Yeah well, there was a time I needed help too."

"Well, no clone is perfect. Now, get out of my way before I make you." Roy pursed his lips and stepped aside. Arsenal was out of sighing within in minutes. The superhero sighed as he hopped up on the roof and spotted the other man not too far away.

"I can get out of your way…and I can still follow you."

* * *

_**METROPOLIS  
July 8, 18:30 EST**_

Bart was pressed up against the outside wall in stealth mode, ready to vibrate in. He never understood why his grandfather had a stealth mode— they were very useful. It wasn't often that the Flash had to sneak around. Still, it didn't hurt to be prepared for any occasion.

"Ready?" whispered Barry. Bart gave a thumbs up and the two vibrated into the Cadmus building. In typical fashion, the lights were dim. Cadmus was very rarely open in this section, and this is where the kept all the goodies they hid from the public. This was the birthplace of both Superboy, and the team.

Barry and Bart were quick to avoid various alarms and managed to get to the computers. Perhaps too easily, certainly too easily. Bart placed a small chip given to them by Batman to override the alarm systems. He began typing at superfast speeds. He was no hacker, but Bart had built a time machine once and Batman had informed him of several possible ways to get into Cadmus. Now if only he could avoid the alarms.

"I'm going to speed around and listen in on people. See if any of them are discussing Project Hyperdrive," Barry informed Bart. The young speedster nodded as Batman's memorized directions went like uber fast clock work in his head. He bit his lip and watched his grandfather go from the corner of his eye.

Barry never liked leaving Bart alone on missions, but this one called for it. While he was older, Bart had built a time machine, making him far more qualified to deal with computers. Honestly, Barry though Batman himself or at least Robin or Batgirl should have been with them to handle that part—Bart was still just a kid and had little experienced actually doing such things— but Batgirl had to help Kaldur lead the Team and the Dynamic Duo had to control another situation in Gotham just as Bart and Barry had been about to leave.

The Cadmus building was not a pleasant one. It had few workers, none of which seemed to talk about the projects outside the labs. There was no talk of Project Hyperdrive in the labs either. Perhaps the whole thing had been a ruse to capture some heroes. But then why hadn't the alarms gone off?

EEERN! EEERN!

The chants of alarms and red flashing lights suddenly sounded. There was no one heading towards him it seemed, which could only mean one thing. Bart had tripped the alarms in his efforts to get into the computer. Barry took off as fast as a speedster could, however something stopped him. A person directly in his way.

"The Flash no going anywhere."

* * *

Bart stumbled over the keys in his hurried typing. He was so close, but he had gotten excited too fast and it had all gone wrong. He pressed the wrong button and now the alarms were triggered. He was doing his best to get the file open, but it was locked up tight now and…deleting itself. 'Crash, just crash,' thought Bart. He sighed heavily. There was no use now. The mission was a failure and he had to find his grandfather quick.

He shot away from the computer like lightning, but a warning shot was fired above his head suddenly. Bart halted in his tracks to turn around. The mask covered the assassin's smirk, but it was still there. Bart knew- call it a hunch.

"I wouldn't do that, Kid Flash, not a smart move." Deathstroke aimed his gun at the teen and fired.

* * *

_**STAR CITY  
July 8, 14:45 PST **_

Arsenal looked up again. He was sure that he was being followed. Stupid clones don't know when to quit… He had heard something over the radio going down at Star Labs. He was heading there now to sort out the problem while his clone decided to play follow the leader, and he guessed Ollie was too busy playing goody-good with the League.

"Will you leave? I have this covered!" Arsenal called it. Nothing replied. His words were falling on deaf ears. Red Arrow certainly was determined, but then again, should Arsenal really have expected any less? Red was his clone after all. "If you're not going to leave, will you at least come out? It's nerve wracking."

At first, there was no sound. For a split second, Arsenal though he had been wrong. He had fooled himself into thinking that Red had followed. However, there was a scoff and the clone jumped out of his hiding place. Without a word, he began running ahead of Arsenal.

"Aren't you going to try to keep up?" Arsenal glared and began running as well. Annoying clone… Roy cleared his throat, "So do you know exactly what this is?"

"No, just some scientist chick—Roquelle or something—."

"Serling Roquette?" Roy looked surprised.

"Yeah, that's her name," replied Arsenal. "Well, something's going down at the Labs. No one can get in. She's trapped inside. Reports of a shadowy figure running around the premises."

"I can't believe this," sighed Roy. "Two assassination attempts in six years."

"Lucky gal," Arsenal told his clone, smirking. "She must be popular."

"The Light and the League of Shadows were behind her last assassination attempt…that makes them our top suspects," said Roy as the slowly closed in the labs. Arsenal's eyes narrowed dangerously behind his mask. If this was a Light operation then Luthor could very well be involved. Yet another good reason to rescue this poor science dame. And one step closer to one upping Luthor again for Arsenal.

* * *

_**CADMUS, METROPOLIS**_  
_**July 8, 18:45 EST**_

Barry's stared down the buff looking zombie man before him. Grundy had never been someone that he would have thought to be recruited by an organization like the Light. The two had fought each other before, but normally it was in a larger fight with Flash switching from villain to villain at Lightspeed.

"Grundy, it's been too long. Kindly step out of my way," Barry sarcastically told the villain. He didn't have time for this. He needed to get to Bart now.

Grundy let out a groan "Flash worried about Speedy Boy Two?" Barry's eyes widened like saucers. He swore that Grundy just laughed and not groaned. Barry allowed his eyes to narrow at the zombie. How had he known? Wally's ceasing had not been released to anyone that was a member of the Light.

"No one from League tell me nothing," said Grundy. "Luthor helped you. He knew." Grundy did not waste anymore time and promptly charged at Flash. He hurdled towards Barry, who dodged him easily. In response, Barry created a windtunnel with his arms that blew Grundy up against the wall. The zombie made a loud crash and fell to the floor. He started to shakily get up and Barry rushed over and gave him a good kick.

Grundy grabbed the speedster's leg and pulled Barry to the ground. Quickly as ever, Barry vibrated out of Grundy's grasp. Said villain made a very loud yelp like groan in pain as his hand burned from the fast vibrating molecules. Barry smirked and pulled himself up.

"So, if you're not gonna let me go, why don't you tell me what Project Hyperdrive is?" he asked, coyly. Grundy promptly did another charge at the speedster. Barry dodged.

"Project Hyperdrive? That joke? Project Hyperdrive not real. It for you," Grundy dodged the wind tunnel this time.

"For cloning purposes, I assume?" Bart sped behind Grundy to try and get the jump on him, but the muscle-filled meat head that happened to be in the way of finding his grandson was much too thick for speedsters to have a great affect on. Grundy whipped around and Barry, distracted from his previous attack, narrowly missed a large gray fist.

"Don't know. Didn't ask, didn't really care."

Barry grunted, "Well isn't that just perfect."

Bart, meanwhile, was staring down at a bullet hole in the place where his body once was. This Deathstroke didn't play around. But Kid Flash was up to the challenge, and deep down so was Impulse.

"So…you're Deathstroke, huh?" Bart replied, coyly. "I'd hate to see you with two eyes."

Deathstroke narrowed his eye at Bart and aimed again. He didn't like the young superhero's attitude, although he didn't outwardly say anything. He shot another round at Bart, who again skittered away.

"You know, guns don't generally work on speedsters. We tend to be just a little too fast for them." Bart pressed himself up against a wall and began vibrating through, "It's been crash, Deathstroke." Once Bart was through, a nook suddenly erupted in the wall. The assassin had fired another shot. With a quick heel pivot, Bart turned around. He could have really killed something right about then. In his rush to get out of the room, he had chosen the wrong wall. He had no idea where he was at.

And he wouldn't get to know. As he frantically looked around, trying to asses the situation. Behind him, he heard a step, just a second too late and something crashed into the back of his head. Deathstroke stood, eye glinting with pride, as he slammed the end of his gun with the palm of his hand. Now it was just a matter of getting rid of the boy.

* * *

_**STAR CITY LABS**_  
_**July 8, 15:00 PST **_

The building was most definitely locked if you were classified as a normal person. Thankfully, the Roys really weren't so average. Upon getting to the labs, they had come across the fact that all the windows were shuttered down with heavy metal blockades. Arsenal made quick work of them. A heavy duty metal arm was a pretty handy weapon, Red had to admit.

Despite, being inside though, they weren't in the lab where Dr. Roquette was. Red Arrow cursed their bad luck as the sneakily trudged through the halls. No door went uncheck for any forms of life. Hopefully, they would find Dr. Roquette before this secret shadow guy.

"This is getting hopeless," Arsenal told Red. The archer shook his head. It was looking that way.

"Don't give up hope yet. If we don't find her, then we search for the assassin."

"And who would that be?"

Suddenly, an arrow flew in between their heads. It was pitch black in shade and none followed, but it wedged itself in the wall. Tentatively, Red approached it and then yanked it out of the wall to be sure it was safe. He'd recognize these arrows anywhere.

"Merlyn," he said to Arsenal. The ginger did not look happy at the mention of one of Green Arrow's arch enemies.

"Which means it's League of Shadows," the ginger replied. Red Arrow gnawed on his lip slightly.

"He was excommunicated…Green Arrow stopped him from killing Batman, crazy as it sounds. But he could be trying to weasel his way back in. Get back in Ra's Al Ghul's good favor." Arsenal grabbed the arrow and tossed it in the air and fired a shot. It blew up like a small firework.

"Well, Merlyn can put his threatening arrows where his mouth is," Red huffed. Was he really this hard to deal with? He hoped he was at least a little better than this guy. He ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. Arsenal was already moving along, his ear pressed to a door.

"Red, over here," he said. Still feeling frustrated, the other Roy pressed his ear up to the door. Little clicks could be heard in the background. Dr. Roquette was in there. She had to be. Only she would continue to type a program in the middle of an assassination attempt.

"Bust it open," Red instructed. Arsenal raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you want to save her or not?" With a shrug, Arsenal complied and bursted the door open with a loud boom. Merlyn was sure to hear that. They'd have to work fast to get the doctor out of there.

The two former Speedy's entered the room. Behind a laptop there was a blond doctor that Red recognized easily. She raised an eyebrow. It seemed that she recognized him too.

"What?" she said. "League going so broke that they've decided to mass produce one standard hero?"

* * *

_**CADMUS, METROPOLIS  
July 8, 19:00 EST **_

By the time, Bart had come around drowsily. He had been out for quite a bit. His head felt dizzy and it banged loudly, he felt uncoordinated and discombobulated. Around him was a pair of strong, but cold arms. They plopped him down hard on the ground, several rocks now piercing at his costume into his skin.

He played it safe and like he was still knocked out. When Deathstroke turned his back, Bart peaked his eyes open. He was in some strange cavern. There were several tubes, most were solid without a label, and one nearby was clear and empty with the label: PROJECT KRYPTON. Bart bit his lip. He was in the cloning labs.

Turning his head ever so slightly he saw something in the corner of the room. A small tube labeled: PROJECT HYPERDRIVE. Below it there was a little Flash symbol underneath. Bart's stomach dropped. Was there a little Barry in there growing? How long had it been in there? Was there anything in there at all? Perhaps it wasn't even a clone. It could very well be an android or strange weapon. Whatever it was, it wasn't safe.

"I know you're awake." Deathstroke didn't even turn around to address Bart. The lithe speedster pushed himself and narrowed his eyes at Deathstroke. The assassin shook his head, "Don't do it."

Bart did it anyway. No villain was going to tell him what to do. Not the fastest boy alive. He dove forward and reached for the tube, in an attempt to open it. This was his chance. What was Project Hyperdrive? A shot rang out. Deathstroke was aiming right at Bart's knee.

Barry was having no luck with Grundy. He was too fast and old zombie boy was too strong. He needed to split, find Bart, and run away from Cadmus. The mission was a bust. Barry zoomed behind Grundy and said, "Sorry, we have to end this so soon." He created another wind tunnel, which sent Grundy slamming, hard, into the wall.

Hurriedly, Barry vibrated through the wall. He began running towards where he left Bart. He begged for the young hero not to be dead. They couldn't lose him too. Not now. Never if they had the choice. Barry closed his eyes for a split second and was slammed into.

He shook his head and looked up. Auburn hair cascaded over a yellow face mask as a young teen shook his head. Barry's eyes brightened, "B- KF!"

"Flash!" replied Bart happily, looking relieved. "We have to go. Deathstroke knows that I know about Project Hyperdrive."

"It's real?" asked Barry. Bart nodded readily.

"I saw it, in the labs. Only as a tube so I don't know what's in it. I almost opened it, but Deathstroke shot at me. It was either finding out what was in there and getting captured, or living to tell that it is so real." Barry placed a hand on Bart's shoulder to silence him before he went on. He understood and he was proud. The mission hadn't been a total flop.

"Come on, let's go," he told Bart. The speedster nodded and quickly followed his grandfather out of Cadmus at top speeds. They need to get back to the Watchtower.

* * *

_**STAR CITY**_  
_**July 8, 19:45 PST **_

Arsenal blinked as the woman rolled her eyes and got back to her work. Was this lady kidding? It did seem like Red had met her before. He remained unphased by her words. Perhaps it was some sort of in-joke, despite the fact that she seemed judgemental as it was? Arsenal huffed gruffly, "Look, lady, we're here to rescue you for an assassi-."

"I know. Just finishing up a few things. Just like last time…Red Arrow?" She continued typing at her computer quickly.

"Yeah, that's what they call me," replied Red. "What are you doing? Does that have something to do with why Merlyn's after you?"

"Most likely. It's called The Injection. Works like an inhibitor collar except it's a nanobot injection. Still prototyping however. They had me start working on it after the REACH were expelled. They were afraid of heroes going around getting possessed and I was up for the task." She pulled a small flash drive from the computer. With a raised eyebrow at Arsenal, "You blew up the door?"

"Yes…"

She tossed the laptop towards him, "Do me a favor and make sure they can't get The Injection files out of this." Arsenal blinked and caught the laptop. She huffed, "We don't have all day." Arsenal threw it to the other side of the room and used it to blow up the window. It faced the back of the Star Labs building. Red Shot an arrow to a tree which would allow them to zipline across.

Red went first with Dr. Serling and Arsenal followed when the red clad archer was about halfway. However, a black arrow seemed to come out of nowhere and slice the rope in two. Red held tight onto the doctor and swung around until it was safe to drop her. Arsenal dropped when she did and protected her as Red swung forward again.

He released the rope and quickly pulled out his bow. In fluid motion, he notched an arrow and fired in what was about the area that the black arrow had come from. Once he was done. He was able to turn himself around and land on his feet in the grass. He buckled slightly.

Arsenal began to put his arms around Dr. Roquette to get her to the front of the labs. He heard a faint twang. It would have pierced right in to him…if not for Red. Recovered from his fall, the archer had managed to notched another bow and fire it through Merlyn's. It broke in half, but the front end still managed to slide gently past Arsenal's still very human arm. He was in shock for a moment until Red began pushing them both along to the front of the labs.

However, they were not out of the fire yet. The two gingers' finally managed to rush the Doctor out to the front of the labs. The man who appeared to be the head scientist of Star Labs let out a relieved sigh when he saw here. She was rushed into his car and on her way to a safe location. The police kept the area on lockdown. Red and Arsenal meanwhile continued to check around for Merlyn. When it was certain the dark archer had fled, Arsenal made it clear that he was leaving.

"You know it's not that bad working with a partner," said Red. Arsenal shrugged.

"So you're probably the one who got rid of Merlyn, big deal." Red raised an eyebrow. Arsenal sighed, "Look I may need help or whatever, but I'm not going back to the Justice League…Tell you what, I'll find myself a partner…Just not you. Clones cramp my style."

"I can live with that."

* * *

THE WATCHTOWER  
July 8, 19:30

Bart sighed deeply as he and Barry finished relaying the mission to Captain Atom. Batman was still held up in Gotham. Batgirl had joined them so Bart would get to miss his report to her. Not that it wasn't something he'd rather miss or anything. Captain Atom nodded at Bart to go, but ask to hold on to Barry for a few more minutes of debriefing.

With a quick turn on his heel, he saw Jaime appear from the zeta tube, the only thing not covered with blue armor was his head. Bart smiled widely and sped over to him. He laughed, "Hola, her-man-o!"

"It's hermano, Bart. The 'h' is silent," Jaime sighed. "So you went on a mission without me?"

"Dude, it was so crash! I discovered a secret Cadmus project…Okay, so maybe it wasn't so secret, but…" Bart start to tell his tale of adventure and Jaime listened intently to his friend. However, it was a bad habit of his to tune Bart out just a little. The kid could talk a mile a minute.

/Jaime Reyes, there is something unusual about the Kid Flash, he is reading different signatures than what was previously observed./ the Scarab suddenly chimed in his thoughts. Jaime sighed and turned his head and whispered super quiet so Bart wouldn't notice him whispering.

"Yeah, yeah, I know you don't like him, Scarab. But listen to him, he's just kinda shaken up, that's all. Bart's just playing his character: he does that happy thing to hide his fear."

/Negative. It is not fear that I am picking up. Correction: uneasiness. I wish to scan him further to-./

"No way, he's fine! I'm sure he'll be perfectly normal when we see him again. You're a good buddy and all, but could you lighten up sometimes? Yeesh." Jaime sighed and began to again listen intently to Bart. The young speedster had done a good job on that mission. Jaime knew that inside, Bart was sure that he had made Wally proud.


End file.
